Amelia v. Umstead = No Contest!

This past week I had to withdraw from running the Umstead 100 on March 27. I'm sad to miss out on the race (and seeing about a dozen running friends there), but the reason I can't run is a tremendously HAPPY one: My best friend Amelia is getting married that weekend! You may recall Amelia's amazing feats of pacing and crewing during Run 192, and it's an absolute no-brainer to switch around my racing plans to be there in San Francisco when she and fiancee Joel get married. To add to the fun that weekend, they're getting married at the Mountain Home Inn which just so happens to be smack dab in the middle of ultra-running heaven in Marin County, CA. I wonder if I can convince any of the party-goers to join me for a run on the trails up there?!

Amelia apparently pacing me somewhere in China during Run 192

A nice stroke of luck for me and my training plan for France has another 100 miler on the schedule the week after the wedding on April 3 in Philadelphia. The Philly 100 is a small Fat Ass run on a paved loop course along the river right in Philly, so it should be a perfect tune-up for France. How lucky are we all that so many 100 milers are popping up everywhere these days? It makes it pretty easy to put together a training schedule even when last minute changes pop up in real life like this. Big thanks to Philly 100 RD Lauri Fauerbach Adams or organizing this run, and if anyone is up for a run that weekend, this looks like a great place to test your limits on an 8.4 mile loop course!